In Sweden, the National Day celebrations take place annually on 6 June to commemorate the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523. The day was previously observed as Swedish Flag Day, but the Swedish Riksdag changed the name to Sveriges nationaldag in 1983.
Although referring to a historical event from more than half a century ago, the 6 June was only celebrated for the first time in 1916 and became an official Swedish public holiday as late as 2005. However, even if the history of the day itself is relatively short, 6 June is considered the day modern Sweden was founded. The accession to the throne of King Gustav Vasa marked the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union and can therefore be considered the beginning of Swedish independence.
Traditionally, the King and Queen of Sweden participate in a ceremony at the Stockholm open-air museum (Skansen) on National Day. The yellow and blue flag is hoisted and children join the celebrations in traditional peasant costumes and bouquets of summer flowers. Another important part of the National Day celebrations is the welcoming of new Swedish citizens around the country.
Did you know?
- Sweden is one of the world’s biggest producers of music – ranking third only after the US and the UK.
- Sweden’s capital Stockholm extends over 14 islands.
- Since Sweden did not have a de jure official language until 2009, Swedish was an official language in Finland (where it has the status of co-official language) before it was in Sweden.
- Be careful when talking about your relatives in Swedish: Your paternal grandmother is your ‘farmor’, whereas you should refer to your maternal grandmother as ‘mormor’.
You can celebrate the Swedish National Day by practising your interpretation skills on our Swedish speeches. The Speech Repository offers you 87 speeches on a variety of topics in Swedish. Let’s get started!
Happy practice,
Your Speech Repository Team